


Nothing, but a band of thieves

by that_pumpkins



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Action/Adventure, Fantasy, Gen, Hobbits, Humans, Quests, enemy - friends
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:40:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24286771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/that_pumpkins/pseuds/that_pumpkins
Summary: I don't know if the violence is particularly graphic, it's more of a just in caseOf the many stories that Tolkien translated, the story of Radella and her thieving friends, who travelled across middle earth to find a jewel believed to have been lost for all eternity, was one that he missed. So, for those who wish to know the story of these not so law-abiding people - and to share in a not so legal adventure - then look no further. But be warned; Radella's tale isn't for the faint hearted. If you long for a fairy tale ending, turn away from this book now. For Radella is no Princess, Munroe is no Prince, Petunia is loyal to only one, and Flora is as far away from a quirky animal sidekick as you can get.
Kudos: 1





	1. Radella of Bree

**Author's Note:**

> I started this years ago on wattpad and recently found it again and decided to continue it here.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own middle earth or any of the places depicted in the story. All characters are my own.

The town of Bree was, as usual, grey. Or more accurately, it was raining. But as the rain was an almost permanent fixture of the town, grey was as good a word to describe it as any. Large puddles lined the streets, and those who had experience with the town were well-accustomed to taking longer routes to avoid walking through them. Puddles in Bree weren't always as shallow as they seemed, which was something that many a visitor had found out the hard way.

Travellers from all around journeyed to Bree, eager for safety during the danger of the nights that had haunted them throughout their travels. It was the hotspot for those seeking respite before they continued on to the far-off lands that they were heading for. The locals accepted these travellers and although they treated them with varying degrees of suspicion, all were welcome as long as they paid their dues and kept themselves to themselves.

Most travellers found their way to the Prancing Pony at some point or another upon entering the town, and for anyone wanting to mix with exciting adventurers or worn-down mercenaries then the Prancing Pony was the place to go. In one of the inns' many rooms for rent, Radella, daughter of the ranger Erasmus, was lounging on a lumpy double bed counting out a pile of silver coins.

Sporting an outfit that consisted of roughly dyed, aged brown leather, and dark grey wool, Radella herself resembled, as her friend Petunia had so graciously informed her, 'a pixie crossed with a troll that was permanently drunk'. Although she was unquestionably of the race of men, her features were debatably different. Her squashed nose and small beady eyes gave her the appearance of an orc, all be it a slightly more attractive than usual orc.

As she counted the coins she hummed to herself, a cheerful little tune that her mother had sung to her when she was a child. The coins were by no means hard earned; well not by her anyway. She'd pick-pocketed them from a stocky blonde dwarf just half an hour earlier, and although it wasn't the most plentiful of prizes, it was enough to pay for her meals for the next week.

Radella had grown up in Bree, and though she liked to inform anyone who would listen of her exciting adventures, the truth was that she'd never ventured more than twenty miles out of her hometown. It wasn't her fault of course. She hadn't seen her father since she was eight years old, his duties as a ranger keeping him away from the family, and more often than not, the area as a whole. Her mother had tried her best, but when a young prince had visited the town looking for a wife, she'd been quick to discard her daughter – who didn't have the looks to be an heir to a kingdom as she had been informed – for a life of grandeur in some far away kingdom that Radella had never heard of, nor cared to visit. So Radella had been left to fend for herself and fend for herself she did.

She'd learned how to pick-pocket from her hobbit friend Petunia Wildgrass. Petunia, like Radella, had lived in Bree for all of her thirty-five years of life. Her family having been kicked out of the Shire decades before, after a scandal involving the Baggins family's prized vegetable patch, and due to their bad reputation, it had been difficult for them to find work. Their short statures had given them an advantage when it came to being able to go unnoticed whilst stealing, and the residents of Bree usually gave them a wide berth if they ended up in the same area.

It was late in the afternoon, and Radella had plans to meet up with Petunia in the main pub area, so she reluctantly stuffed the coins in her leather satchel and stood up. The floorboards creaked ominously as she crossed the room, but she managed to make it to the door without falling through the floor. As she pulled it open and was about to step through, a fluttering sound made her hesitate, and turning, she saw a fat dove sitting on her windowsill. It ruffled its feathers and fixed Radella with a haughty look. She clicked her tongue and shook her head, walking over and opening the window.

"Go away stupid bird. And let Petunia know that I'll be down in a minute."

The dove glared at her, shifting from foot to foot as it seemed to contemplate whether it could be bothered to do as it was asked. Eventually it seemed to decide that it was able to muster the effort of flying down and shuffled to the edge of its perch. It took one more step and dropped like a brick, only opening its wings at the last second to stop itself from crashing onto the muddy road.

Radella tutted to herself as she turned away and this time managed to cross her room and walk out of the door in peace. The handrail on the rickety stairs leading down to the pub had long since fallen off, so she walked carefully, making sure to stay as close to the wall as she possibly could. Ugly paintings lined the walls, each portraying a different owner of the inn. Apparently having giant ears was part of the job requirement as each portrait depicted a man with abnormally large ears on the sides of his head. She paused for a minute to snigger to herself as she looked at a painting of a particularly portly man whose ears were big enough to fly him off the ground if they were able to be moved independently – something that Radella prided herself on being able to do.

When she finally entered the pub, she was immediately surrounded by a group of thuggishly large male teenagers, all of which were human, and all of which were holding club like bats in their hands.

"Where's the money you owe us, huh _Radella_?" the leader of the group leered down at her while his friends guffawed stupidly behind him.

"I have no idea what you're talking about _Munroe_ ; are you sure you didn't imagine the money that you appear to believe I have?" she asked sweetly, knowing that Munroe wasn't going to believe her for a second, as although his friends might be unbelievably stupid, he was not.

"Don't even bother trying that on me. Pay up or face the consequences, you don't have any other choices." He advanced forwards menacingly, breathing on Radella's face, which caused her to screw her nose up in disgust.

"Urgh, turn away when you want to breathe will you?"

"Cover your face when you stand won't you? It's making me feel sick." He taunted, and his friends jeered loudly, nodding their heads up and down in agreement.

"I'd rather have my face than your breath." She replied, although she could already tell that she had lost. The group were advancing on her and given that her only friend was about 3ft tall, she had no real back-up to speak of. "here, take this and leave me alone." She pulled out her bag of silver coins from her satchel and threw it over. Munroe grinned at her toothily, before motioning for his cronies to follow him out of the inn.

Radella pulled a face at their backs as she watched them walk out of the door, before she began glancing around the pub space to try and see where Petunia was. It didn't take her long to see where she was sitting – in the corner by the window. Although short, Petunia had an aura about her that attracted crowds to gather, and therefore made her relatively easy to find. In contrast to Radella, Petunia was beautiful. Her long reddish-brown hair fell to her waist, and always had small yellow wildflowers - that could be found on the outskirts of Bree - braided into it. Her face had soft features, making her seem friendly and trustworthy, which was something she used to her advantage when she saw someone she intended to steal from.

"Radella!" she called out when she noticed her friend. She shook off the handsome male hobbit who had been gazing at her admiringly – and probably buying her food and drinks – and beckoned for Radella to join her at her table.

"Who was that?" Radella asked as she slid into the seat opposite the hobbit.

"Who? Oh, him." She glanced over at the male hobbit who had taken residence at the bar. "I think he said his name was Boadas."

"You think?"

"Look, I made him buy two meals so that you had something too, so stop complaining, will you?" she flipped a lock of hair over her shoulder and smiled indulgently over the table.

"You knew Munroe was planning to steal from me?" Radella asked, pulling the plate Petunia offered towards her.

"He's been standing by the stairs muttering your name for the past hour or so. And didn't you steal from him first?"

"Not the point." Radella took a bite of bread, "where's Flora?"

Petunia mover her arm off the table to reveal the dove sitting behind it. It clicked its beak and shuffled around so that it wasn't facing Radella. Radella moved her arm forwards to poke Flora with her fork. The bird pecked at it and cooed at Petunia who flicked the fork away and glared at her friend.

"Leave her alone will you?"

"She started it!"

"Well I'm ending it!"

The two sat in silence for a few minutes, Radella chewing on her bread, whilst Petunia gently stroked Flora's back. The pub was loud with people of all races getting in early in preparation for their evening meal.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Radella finally broke the silence.

"We meet up all the time, do I really need an excuse to ask to meet up today?" Petunia raised an eyebrow.

"You sent a formal letter." Radella broke a bit of bread off the slice she was holding and gave it Flora who eyed it suspiciously for a moment before beginning to peck at it eagerly.

"Well..."

"yes?"

Petunia took a deep breath before answering. "It's just," she broke off and gave Radella a worried look. "The Griffin's eye had been found."

"That's good isn't it? You've been trying to figure out where that stone is since before I was born."

"That's true. But the problem is where it was found."

"Where?"

Petunia swallowed. "Umbar. The city your mother now lives in."


	2. Making plans

Radella lay awake that night, occasionally shifting her position slightly to avoid having to lie on the same part of lumpy mattress for too long. Umbar city. No-matter how many times she'd tried to tell herself that she didn't remember where her mother had disappeared to, this wasn't entirely true. She was well aware of where her mother had gone - being left by your mother wasn't something that anyone could truly forget – but she had never considered going to find her. Not that she would be going to Umbar for the sole purpose of finding her mother. In fact, unless things completely spiralled out of control, then she was going to do everything in her power to avoid seeing her.

She rolled over in the bed. Hanging one arm loosely over the side of the frame, she swung it back and forth as she tried to reason with herself. She had promised to help Petunia at once upon finding out that something her friend had desired so badly and for so long was within grasp. But she had never been that far away from Bree, and as much as she trusted her friend, travelling through the wilds of Middle Earth with only a hobbit for a companion would be no easy task. As good a thief as Petunia was in Bree, those folks who lived outside of the town were likely to be much more savage than had previously been encountered. Radella herself might stand a chance against a group of hobbits, or even a gaggle of drunken dwarves who so often started a round of raucous singing when they'd had one too many to drink, but fully grown folk of the races of men or elves were a completely different story.

She rolled over again so that she was laying on her back, staring up at the cracked ceiling. The paint was grubby and peeling off in places, the corners filled with long since abandoned spider webs. The candelabra swayed gently in the breeze coming through the gap between window and wall. A thought had occurred to Radella. It was a thought that she would have probably come to at some point along the line but given that she had thought of it so quickly, she had immediate doubts in its reliability. Surely if a human and hobbit wouldn't be safe in the wilderness alone, then the best option would be to find someone else to travel with them. The problem would be finding them. The people of Bree would be unwilling to trust the two women who spent the majority of their time trying to steal from them.

Radella groaned and slapped weakly at her forehead. There had to be someone who didn't completely distrust them. Just one person that they hadn't tried to pick-pocket, con or rip-off. Even visitors to the town were wary of them now because of the warnings from the gate-keeper. Stealing that old man's bag had turned out to be a big mistake, although they couldn't possibly have known that he would be so vengeful.

The night wore on, but Radella's worrying stayed resolutely locked in place, refusing to move on as time did. She felt that she needed to find a solution by morning. Petunia's family had always made sure that she had enough to eat, somewhere to stay, and people to talk to if she needed it – which she would never admit to even if she did. So, somewhere deep down in herself, she felt that she owed them. There was no way she would ever be able to steal enough in Bree to pay back the monstrously large debt. But the Griffin's eye was a jewel that was supposed to be so valuable that even the fire drakes refused to own it, deciding that the forces that would constantly be trying to seize it would influence on their lives too greatly. At least, that was what the stories all said. How reliable strangers from other lands who all had a slightly different retelling of the story actually were, was a different matter altogether.

A cockerel crowed in the distance as the sun started to rise over the distant hill. Radella stirred from a light, very unrestful sleep. Opening her eyes groggily, she stretched her arms above her head and flexed her fingers out, cracking a few knuckles as she did so. Sleep had come to her in the very early hours of the morning and because of this, her eyes were still heavy with the need for rest.

During the night she had arrived at one decision. No matter what Petunia thought, they were going to have to ask around and find some form of help. There was a good chance that she was going to react very badly to the suggestion. Even though Petunia put a lot of effort into making herself seem like the ideal companion for any person of any race, it was common knowledge for the people closest to her that she wasn't exactly big on making new friends. Or trusting people in general.

Pulling the thin cover off herself, Radella swung her legs around so that she was sitting on the edge of her bed. Her mind was oddly clouded, the exhaustion from a lack of sleep combined with so much worrying, making everything feel oddly detached, almost like she was in a dream and was just watching conscious events from the side-lines. She shook her head slightly, trying to clear it. Petunia would be down in the pub for breakfast soon and given the fact that Radella had lost all her money the previous day, her friend was the only way she was going to be able to source food until she could make it back. Radella didn't have a great amount of coordination in the mornings before she had eaten, so attempting to pick pocket anyone before breakfast would be a guaranteed failure.

It didn't take her long to pull on her usual clothing attire and struggle her way into her slightly too small shoes. They had been a gift from Petunia three years ago, and Radella hadn't ever been in possession of enough money to buy a similar quality pair in the right size. The shoelaces were frayed, but they still tied well enough and she was soon making her way back down the rickety stairs, this time not stopping to observe the paintings on the walls.

It was early morning, meaning that the pub was less crowded than it had been when Radella had been in it yesterday. Munroe was sitting in the corner nearest the door with the rest of his cronies, all of whom were laughing raucously at something their greasy haired leader had just said. Apart from Munroe and his group, the only other person in the pub aside from petunia and the landlord was an old woman with a beautifully embroidered white and blue cloth covering her face. The cloth itself was obviously worth a fortune, and Radella could tell that if she were able to steal it, it could set her up nicely for about a year. The old woman was managing to eat and drink by carefully lifting the cloth when she had managed to get her cup or cutlery as close to her face as she could without actually touching the delicate material.

Radella nodded to the landlord and crossed the floor quickly to sit with Petunia. The hobbit was delicately picking a piece of cheese apart with her fingers before placing the small pieces into her mouth. She smiled gently as Radella pulled out a chair and sat down.

"I have a feeling that you're going to make a suggestion about acquiring the jewel, and that suggestion is going to involve recruiting some one to help us?" She tilted her head to one side as she asked this.

"Indeed. I know you won't want to bring anyone else in on this, but I really can't think of another alternative."

A serving girl came over to the table at that point and asked Radella what she wanted. She pointed to Petunia's plate and the girl nodded and walked back to the bar.

"Usually that'd be true, but unfortunately I can't think of a good alternative either." She reached a hand over to stroke Flora's back – the dove was sitting beside the windowsill relishing in the rare morning sun – and sighed. "And what's with the 'indeed'? It's not like you to sound so formal."

"I know, but we need to give a good impression to whoever we hire, so I thought it would be easier if I got into the habit."

Petunia nodded to herself. "Fair enough. I guess you don't have my natural charm!"

Radella blew out her cheeks and looked out of the window huffily. "If that's what you want to call it."

She continued to gaze out of the window, watching the early risers make their way to inns for breakfast, stables for their horses, or a few shifty looking men in cloaks who rushed past the murky glass casting wary looks over their shoulders as they went. A small girl was in the path of one of them, and the man – at least Radella presumed it was a man by the figure's bulky build – pushed her aside so that she fell to the ground. Radella was strongly reminded of her own childhood after her mother had left. She too had been unable to stand up for herself.

"So, do have any ideas for who to try and recruit?" Petunia asked, snapping Radella out of her thoughts.

"I don't-" The rest of her sentence was drowned out by a chorus of loud cheering from Munroe's table.

The two women turned in their seat to see Munroe stuffing an ungodly amount of bacon into his mouth as the others cheered him on, clapping their hands loudly and slapping him on the back in encouragement. Petunia wrinkled her nose and pushed her plate away from her, seemingly too repulsed by the display to continue eating. Flora cooed eagerly and inelegantly flapped her way across the table to the plate.

"I just hope we have we can get someone with a little more decorum than _him_." Petunia watched him haughtily out of the corner of her eyes, before flicking them back up when the serving girl returned with Radella's food.

Neither of them spoke as Radella scoffed down the food, Radella because her mouth was too full to utter words, and Petunia because she knew that she wouldn't be able to get any answer out of her friend.

When Radella finally finished her meal, she sat back and placed a hand on her stomach, closing her eyes contentedly.

"I'm guessing you're expecting me to pay for that?" Petunia asked, although she sounded amused rather than annoyed.

"Right now, yes. But I've got food in my stomach and stealing on my mind. I'll be able to pay you back by the end of day hopefully!" Radella's eyes flickered to the old women at the bar, or more specifically to the cloth on her face.

Petunia followed her friend's eyes and her expression darkened. "I wouldn't try if I were you. I went over for a closer look before you came down. There's a strange aura around that lady."

Radella just laughed, "nonsense, you'll see. You're getting paranoid now that you know where the eye is." Still sniggering to herself, Radella got up and went over to sit with the old lady, making sure that her eyes weren't permanently fixed on the cloth.

"Lovely morning isn't it?" In Radella's experience, people were more likely to trust you if you initiated small talk.

The old woman didn't reply.

"Are you in Bree for any particular reason?"

The old women still didn't reply and Radella could feel herself becoming agitated. Petunia was right, there was something definitely off about the woman, but she just couldn't put her finger on it. The woman's grey hair fell down to her waist, and there seemed to be the remains of elegant braids in it, dead flowers indicating that they had once been cared for regularly. But now the hair was matted, mud and sweat caking the skin near the scalp. As she moved, Radella could have sworn that she saw the pointed ears of an elf but shook it off as her eyesight failing her after such little sleep. She was relatively sure that elves didn't age physically, and even if they did, she doubted whether they would age so badly.

Deciding that there was nothing for it but to just grab the cloth and run away quickly to hide in the stables, Radella edged forwards on her seat, eyes flickering from the cloth to the door, trying to determine when the best time to act would be. When she had finally decided that the coast was clear enough to make a quick getaway, she sprung forward and snatched the cloth away. But what she saw made her freeze up where she was standing. The old woman's eye sockets were hollow and dark, her pasty skin stretched over her cheekbones to the point where it appeared as if it might rip at any moment, and her teeth were black and rotting, the rancid smell making Radella want to throw up.

Radella managed to take a step backwards, desperately trying to clear her head, knowing that if she didn't she wasn't going to be able to make her getaway. But it was too late. She had lingered for too long, almost entranced by how horrifying the unseeing face was. Before she could make any further movements, the old lady grabbed her with a twisted, clawed hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These chapters are shorter than I remember, but I'll work on making them longer in chapters to come


	3. Fears and Jeers

The sharp nails dug into her wrist, and Radella vaguely registered blood seeping through her sleeve and staining the tattered material. She tried to pull her arm free, the pain from the stabbing nails bringing tears to her eyes. The old woman's grip was strong, and although Radella was using her whole-body weight to try and break free, she wasn't able to break the woman's grip.

"Fear... orange... pain" the woman rasped, each word blowing rancid breath in Radella's direction.

"What?" Radella croaked out, her free hand scratching at the woman's arm to try and free herself.

"Trees... ask... trees." The woman grabbed Radella's free arm and brought it to her face, before biting down hard on it.

Radella screamed, high ear-splitting screams.

"RADELLA!" Petunia had rushed to her friend's side and grabbed her around the waist, trying with all her hobbit strength to free the taller female.

It was to no avail however. The old woman began to shriek as well, so that the entire room was filled with ear-splitting noise. Munroe and his group had stopped what they were doing and were staring in shocked silence at the scene unfolding in front of them. Not that either Radella or Petunia noticed however. They were both yelling and screaming as they tried to break Radella free, red hot blood flowing seemingly endlessly out of the wound on her arm.

The old woman was just reaching a hand out to grab Petunia around the neck when she suddenly froze up and slumped forwards from her seat and into a crumpled heap on the ground. A carving knife was sticking out of her back, and the grim-faced landlord was staring down at her.

"That be the secon' one we 'ad in 'ere this month. You two alrigh'?"

The two women nodded dumbly, staring down at the body lying on the floor beside them. Thieves they might be, but murderers they were not, and seeing someone die in front of them was a new experience for them both.

"Wish I knew where they was comin' from." The landlord continued, leaning over the bar counter to tug his knife free. It made a sickening squelching sound as he did so.

Radella took a step back, her face pale, the embroidered cloth still clutched in her hand. Her arm was still bleeding, but the flow had calmed to a trickle, and even someone with no medical experience would be able to tell that it was only a superficial wound, nothing that would cause permanent damage by itself. Even so, it made Radella uneasy. That woman's teeth had been so rotten, and it wasn't unknown for human bites to become infected, and once that happened it was a downwards slippery slope. Petunia seemed to be thinking along the same lines because she grabbed Radella's wrist and asked the landlord:

"Have you got any rubbing alcohol we could use."

The landlord squinted down at Radella's arm and rubbed his chin for a minute, seemingly thinking hard. "I ain't got no rubbin' alcohol, but I think I got some spirit, which should do the job nicely." He retreated into a back room and reappeared moments later carrying a dusty bottle which he handed to Petunia.

She took it and pulled the top off, discarding it on the counter. Although the bottle was clearly old and very dusty, the contents was a clear liquid that held no signs of age. Petunia gently poured a small amount over the bite, causing Radella to hiss through clenched teeth. The alcohol burned the already sensitive open wound, and old blood mixed with the spirit, dripped down onto the dark wooden floor which was already stained dark red to the point of no return. Radella muttered a brief thanks, before she turned on her heels and made to walk out of the pub.

"Where are you going? Your arm isn't even bound." Petunia called out at her friend's retreating back.

"Need to find someone to buy this, don't I?" I Radella held up the embroidered cloth with her good arm and shot a weak smile over her shoulder. "And a walk will clear my head a bit, you know?"

"Of course. I'll see you later?"

"If I don't manage to sell this, I'll need someone to buy me lunch." Radella tried to laugh, but the sound was harsher than she intended, making her seem more like she was in pain than anything else.

As Radella walked past Munroe's table on her way to the door, he leant back in his chair and sucked in air through his teeth, shaking his head.

"And here I was, hoping that you'd lose that thieving arm of yours." He leered, and although his cronies guffawed as they always did, Munroe's sneering tone didn't quite match the shock that was evident in his eyes.

"Shut up Munroe." Radella muttered as she pushed open the old creaky door and exited the pub.

As she stepped into the cold morning air, Radella allowed herself to take a deep shaking breath. The cold burned the back of her throat, making her cough slightly. Pulling a thin scraggy scarf out of her pocket, she wrapped it around her neck and tried to pull it as tightly around herself as she could.

The early morning mist was starting to clear, but it was still tricky to see a great distance in any direction. Figures would materialise out of seemingly nowhere, causing Radella – who was already jumpy – to take a sharp intake of breath every time it happened. She checked over her shoulder every couple of minutes, wringing her tunic in her hands as she did so. Every time this happened her fists clenched a tiny bit more, and by the time she was halfway down the street she had a large amount of tunic rolled up in her hands.

A large figure brushed past her shoulder, making her turn her head to watch its progress. The figure had a hood pulled all the way up and Radella recognised him as one of the men who had pushed over the little girl earlier. He was running in a zigzag pattern as though trying not to let anyone be able to pinpoint his position. At one point he changed direction completely and began sprinting at full speed down a side road. Radella watched him out of sight before leaning back against a wall and letting out a sigh. Her hands were shaking, and upon noticing this she shoved them into her pockets.

Trying to figure out who to sell the cloth to was pushed as far back in her mind as it could possibly be. The woman's horrible, mangled face kept flashing up in her thoughts, each time eliciting an involuntary shiver from Radella. She rubbed her temples with her fingers and kicked annoyedly at the wall.

A tattered wagon rolled past, pulled by a worn-out donkey. The poor creature's hooves were scraping along the ground and it tripped over a cobblestone more than once. The donkey's legs were bleeding, and gashes along its back indicated that it had been beaten throughout its journey. This was made further evident by the large club that was held in the hand of a burly woman following along behind the wagon.

She caught Radella's eye as she drew level with her, flashing Radella a toothy grin. Radella's eyes flickered to the donkey and back to the woman. It seemed to take a minute for the meaning of this to register with the woman, but as soon as it did, her smile faded away.

"Think you know what it's like to deal with a good for nothing sack of bones, do ya?" Her top lip curled slightly as she said this, her eyes never leaving Radella's.

Radella tried to reply, or utter any words at all, but the woman's grip on the bat in her hand was reminding her sickeningly of the old woman's grip on her arm. She opened her mouth, but only a dry rasping sound came out.

The woman's lip curled even further upwards. "Hmm. I'd say that you're the useless bag of bones aren't ya? You definitely ain't a looker, and I'd guess by your inability to form coherent words that you ain't the smartest either!" The woman threw her head back and began to roar with laughter at her own comment. Passers by stopped to stare, but upon noticing who the woman's laughter was directed at they smirked to themselves and nudged each other, pointing at Radella.

It was at that moment that the woman was dive bombed by something white and feathery. Flora had appeared out of nowhere and was using her relatively substantial claws to rip at the woman's face. Blood was beginning to drip down her neck and she was shrieking with anger and she whirled her club around her head. Flora made one last long scratch down the woman's face before flapping over to land on Radella's shoulder. The claws digging into her skin serving as a reminder that Flora was only helping her because Petunia had told her to.

"Smart bird ya got there. I could use a bird like that. More useful than this old thing." She kicked the donkey in the leg and it let out a weak protest.

"She's, she's not, not for sale."

Flora cooed loudly as if to back up the point.

"Well ain't that a shame. You see, I think you owe me for the damage to my face." The woman took a threatening step forwards causing Radella to flatten herself against the wall behind her.

For a minute Radella considered handing over Flora to the woman and just walking away, but the look on Petunia's face when she found out was enough to make her reconsider. The cloth was still her hand and with much regret she stretched her arm out and offered it to the woman.

"Hmm, what do we have here?" The woman grabbed it out of Radella's hand and began inspecting it. "Nice, very nice. Alright, I'll take it." She stepped away from Radella, still examining the cloth. "In fact, I could buy a new donkey with this. Maybe even a horse."

The woman untied the ropes connecting the donkey to the wagon and threw them at Radella.

"Have 'im as a little bonus free me, ey?" She sniggered to herself as she walked away, leaving her wagon in the middle of the street and the donkey standing beside Radella.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's the end of the chapters I had on wattpad, so all chapters after this will be new


End file.
